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Road

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Abstract

How does a traveler in the later Middle Ages have knowledge of the road? To what extent does the medieval road become a topos or locus where a traveler's thoughts gather and recollections are stored? I consider the special features of medieval roads that make this knowledge historically and geographically distinctive. The particular integration of medieval roads with the environment and the (relative) slowness of commute afford travelers the experience of tarrying even as they progress on their way. Contemporary bequests for road maintenance and repair suggest a solicitude that goes beyond the conventions of almsgiving to reveal the epistemological and ontological significance of place.

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Acknowledgements

With thanks to feedback from the editors and from Matthew Goldie.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, New York City, NY

    Valerie Allen

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  1. Valerie Allen
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Allen, V. Road. Postmedieval 4, 18–29 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/pmed.2012.38

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